Thursday, January 06, 2011

post christmas and no blues

At last the festive season is behind me and I managed to get back to the bench today.
Dingo's mum gave me a new saw for Christmas, one of the "Knew Concepts" saws which is completely rigid. Although it is a bit fiddly to get blades into, it is an amazing tool: from the second I started to cut with it, I knew that I would not be going back to my old, springy iron frame. Because the frame is rigid the blade rarely catches in the way that we are used to with traditional frames.

My "Knew" Saw


I was thinking about this and wondered if this is the first major change to the jeweller's piercing saw since the middle-ages!


Piercing With My "Knew" Saw





"Cold Genius" is back on the bench again. I've done a load of work on the box section of the piece and today completed the major construction work on it:


Cold Genius (WIP) 36




Got home on Tuesday night to discover another bullying letter from TV Licensing. Despite not having owned a television for over 20 years, despite telling the licensing authorities this, despite 20 years of persistent harassment, despite being promised last time that I wouldn't be hassled again. These aggressive c*nts must think that by accusing me of lying and cheating and by threatening me with fines and intrusions into my home I will buy a license anyway, whether I have a television or not.

It strikes me as somewhat odd that a mere entertainment company should take such an approach when the DVLA don't accuse people without driving licenses of driving cars illegally; the police are not in the habit of breaking into the houses of people who don't have shotgun licenses on the grounds that they might have; customs and excise are not noted for sending threatening letters to people who don't have licenses to operate a still on the off-chance that they might be making whisky... you get the idea.

This latest bout of harassment took the form of a letter declaring that my details had been passed onto their enforcement officers and that I could expect a visit, a court appearance and a £1000 fine. Which is an odd thing to happen to someone who has not broken one single law but who is guilty of... well... not watching television.